


The Experiment

by lilidelafield



Series: Origins [2]
Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 10:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8708536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilidelafield/pseuds/lilidelafield
Summary: Having established their company of Time Agents to keep Time in its place, The Watchers decide their new agents would be more efficient if they possessed a greater understanding of human beings. . .





	

The Watchers were doing their job well, they felt. Their new plan of creating a new generation of beings similar to themselves, but of course, eons younger, and pairing them up to send away on missions to fight and clear up breaches to the flow of history, and banish the creatures from the time stream back to where they belong.

They had successfully observed their new Elements and created profitable pairings between various operatives. Some of them, unsuited for permanent partnership, but still very useful due to their abilities were made specialists, and could be called upon by anyone throughout the course of their assignment if their particular talents were needed. Among this number were, of course, Silver and Lead. Lead's enormous strength came in very useful for many of the operatives, but he was especially vital to help Steel, they had discovered.

Steel had an inherent ability to drop his inner core temperature to close to absolute zero, but he did not have the ability to raise it again, and without assistance was left weak and completely defenseless until his body returned to normal temperature naturally. Lead however, was the perfect insulator, and he possessed the power to actively assist Steel to raise his temperature within a just a couple of minutes. Better yet, with Lead present at the time, provided he was in physical contact with Steel throughout the entire process, he was able to return Steel's core temperature to normal in an instant. Yes, the Watchers congratulated themselves on solving their dilemma, and at first were content to watch out for the breaches in the continuum and assign agents. After a short while, however, yet another issue began to arise.

The amount of disdain and derision from some of the more powerful Elements for the Human Race based on their feeble brains and their weak bodies, so easily infected, overcome or destroyed they could see one day becoming an issue if was not quickly addressed. The Elements, being very different from Humans in their natural state, and very powerful in their own ways, the unsettling possibility of mutiny among some of them began to flower and blossom. They had to find a way to nip this tendency in the bud before they started to act on their fantasies.

The Transients and Transuranics were the most tempted of all, so they were the first to be disciplined. They were locked into their humanoid forms, unable to change back, and their powers of telepathy denied them, forcing them to rely solely on the highly ineffective vocal forms of communication used by human beings. They, being the most powerful but at the same time least stable of all the elements, it was deemed that they were far too great a risk to send on missions, and so they were given a primitive planet to live on, and the variability of time travel available only under very strict limits. For right or for wrong, The Watchers felt that for the time being, they would be fine, and left them to their uncertain future.

The time came to turn their attention to the rest of their people. Steel's harshness was greatly softened by the presence of Sapphire, but his confusion at why humans persisted in focusing on such trivial matters as they do, coupled with his superior attitude at any kind of weakness, even from his own partner was continuing to cause ripples of discontent, from everyone he encountered. Finally, the Watchers decided that their Time Agents needed to understand better these people they were trying to help. Looking like humans for the brief period they were amongst them but not encountering any of their problems or difficulties was clearly not going to be enough to give them the understanding and compassion that their job required. The cure for one would have to be the cure for all…with of course, certain modifications.

Steel was the one they chose to pass on the details of their judgment to his fellow Elements.

They, like the Transuranics would remain in human form at all times, whether they were on assignment or not. That of course required a suitable environment for them to go home to between assignments.

Unlike the Transuranics, they would retain their full telepathic powers, and their full control over their physical form…but they would have to remain humanoid.

Since the invulnerability of some of the Elements was in part due to the properties of their natural forms, being forced to remain permanently humanoid would be certain to bring a certain amount of vulnerability as a result. One classic case in point would be Steel.

Steel was by definition unbreakable in every way. In his own form he was completely invulnerable by any normal methods of attack. In humanoid form though, he would only be invulnerable if he physically made the effort to harden his inner self, his inner core; but it would take continuous energy and effort to keep it up. It also meant that it could potentially be possible for an enemy to sneak up on him and take him unaware. Steel was not amused at the knowledge that he would have to be the one to give the others this news. How would they take it? It was not as if any of them could simply resign from being agents. That was the very reason for their being. They could possibly be reassigned to something less dangerous, but Steel knew he for one could never do that.

"The next task you and Sapphire are assigned will require the presence of Lead, so we will immediately transfer you all. You will pass on our judgement at your leisure."

"Me?"

"You are the strongest, and regardless of their personal feelings about you, they all regard you with respect."

"And what about the reasons for your judgement?"

"Sapphire will work it out in time. She is the one with the mind that sees through all. Ask Sapphire!"

Then they were gone from his head.

S & S S & S

Steel landed with a surprising jolt on his hands and knees, and he stayed put for a few seconds, breathing heavily before getting to his feet. He swayed unsteadily for a moment, and someone grabbed his arm and steadied him.

"Whoa there, Steel. You seem a little dizzy."

Steel blinked.

"I am. What's happened Lead? Where's Sapphire?"

"She's here. She'll be all right in a moment."

Steel looked around, and then wished he hadn't bothered. He and Lead were standing in what looked like a damp cellar. Sapphire was slumped on the floor by the wall, asleep or unconscious; he wasn't sure. Where were they?

Lead let go of his charge tentatively and as Steel seemed quite steady now, he stepped back, out of Steel's personal space and looked around.

"They could have chosen a pretty hillside or something. Why this place?"

"What are you talking about? What's going on?"

Lead turned and stared at his old friend.

"Steel, have you lost your memory?"

"I don't know, I can't remember."

"What is the last thing you do remember?"

"Arguing with someone about something…" Steel flinched as his memory hit him suddenly like a flood wave. The Authority…they were eager to try a new experiment with their agents, and being as Steel and Sapphire were the top agents, they had started with them. Lead nodded slowly.

"You remember now?"

"Yes."

"They've made you human?"

"Yes. No. Human _oid_."

Lead seemed confused.

"But you always take on humanoid form for your earth missions anyway. We all do."

Steel nodded.

"Yes Lead, but they have decided that we should retain this form at all times. Even in our down-time we have to remain…." He grabbed his own cheek between finger and thumb and tweaked it for emphasis. "…like this!"

"But you can't return home in your humanoid form."

Steel nodded.

"Precisely, but what difference does that make to them?" He glanced upwards, and then back at Lead. "In between missions we are to live in luxurious comfort on a specially constructed space station in orbit around our home-world. Saves the time it takes to transform us before and after every mission and supposedly makes us more understanding of the way humans live their lives. The theory is that we become better agents as a result."

Lead looked uncertain.

"Makes us more vulnerable."

"Not me. I'm Steel, remember."

"I know, and you retain all your strengths and abilities, but you will still be essentially human. You will have similar weaknesses as they do. You will be like super-humans of course, but still subject to harm, temperature extremes, injury…"

"That would be darned inconvenient for me."

"You will still be able to lower your temperature, but it will make you weak. You will become more vulnerable until you regain your normal temperature. It will make it more important than ever for you to seek my help whenever you need to do it."

Steel closed his eyes, focusing his mind internally, then concentrated or a moment. Then he raised an eyebrow.

"Less vulnerable than you suppose. I can still harden my core; I can still be as impenetrable as steel."

Lead nodded.

"The thing is it takes an effort for you to do it, right? You have to think about it and maintain it. Your vulnerability my dear Steel will come with being taken by surprise. For example, if you have someone standing in front of you threatening you with a gun, you can harden your core and you'll know you won't be harmed. But what if someone you are unaware of shoots you? By the time you hear the shot, it will already be too late."

"Nothing has changed, Lead, the way we have always been in humanoid form…" then, feeling foolish, he realized what Lead had been hinting at. The difference now from before was that any injury they may have sustained during a mission was immediately wiped out, healed, dealt with by their transformation to their own forms. Now any injury they picked up they would be stuck with until it healed naturally.

With a grunt, Sapphire awoke and rolled over.

"What happened? Transference has never caused me to pass out before!"

"Don't worry my dear." Lead took her hands gently in his own and yanked her to her feet. "We were all knocked out. It must have been the shock to our systems."

Sapphire froze, her eyes glowing deep blue, then she nodded.

"They've changed us. Fundamentally changed us. They want us to learn to empathize with humans, so for the time being at least, we've been locked into humanoid form. Aah! Good!" She rapidly disappeared and reappeared behind them.

"I can still teleport. That's useful anyway."

"So we won't have to live here on earth then!" It was a statement rather than a question. Lead, surprisingly, did not seem too disappointed.

"You know, it might be an interesting adventure, living in this body for next few hundred years."

Steel glared at him.

"Why?"

Lead grinned widely.

"Because I will have the chance to try all that human food! I haven't found one yet that is not delicious!"

Sapphire smiled at him and raised an eyebrow at her partner.

"Do you think the Authority will be able to provide me with some cookbooks to study?"

Steel looked incredulous.

"Why should they? What do you want cookbooks for anyway, Sapphire?"

Sapphire shared a grin with Lead.

"I want to learn how to cook. Not everything humans do is unpleasant or a waste of time Steel. And I will always have a hungry mouth to feed whilst Lead is around!"


End file.
